20.1 Development and Evaluation of a Manualized Group Intervention for Expecting Parents Exposed to Early-Life Adversity: Supporting the Transition to and Engagement in Parenthood (Step)

Parenting during a child's placement: A systemic perspective on parental commitment

“…Researchers indeed indicate the importance of including birth parents as active and central members of the family system within those preventive services on their parenthood (Bérubé et al, 2020;Lacharité, 2014). When the implication of CPS becomes inevitable, it would in some cases be beneficial to address services that will accompany birth parents with the grieving process (Slettebø, 2013), the impact of complex trauma on parenthood (Berthelot et al, 2021;Haight et al, 2005;Mateos et al, 2021;Rusconi-Serpa et al, 2015), positive parenting practices (Balsells, 2021;Balsells et al, 2015), coparenting (Kemp et al, 2009;Linares et al, 2006;Salas Martínez et al, 2016), parent-child relationship (Urrea Monclus et al, 2021), and the relationship to the caseworker (Charest-Belzile et al, 2020;Cheng & Lo, 2020).…”

“…Studies have shown that, after placement, parent-child contact can act as a significant protective factor because it nurtures thriving parenting skills (Hedin, 2015) as well as the parent-child relationship as perceived by foster children (Salas Martínez et al, 2016). Yet, parents' experience of trauma (Berthelot et al, 2021) as well as children's behavioral issues may impede parents' potential to intervene adequately (Forehand et al, 1997). To our knowledge, only one study to date has examined the relationship between parental commitment and contact, showing that higher frequency of contact is associated with higher parental commitment .…”